Jaén

One of my goals while I am here in Spain is to visit all eight provinces of Andalusia.  So far I have hit: Seville, Málaga, Córdoba, Cádiz, Granada, and now, Jaén.  I traveled with a group of friends to Jaen during Semana Santa (“holy week”) to camp in the Sierra Cazorla, a set of mountains in the northeast of Andalusia.  There were fourteen of us traveling with a program called Outdoor Andalusia which is run by my friend Christian.  Outdoor Andalusia plans weekend trips for study abroad students who want to see the natural beauty of southern Spain through outdoor activities like hiking.  Our trip to Jaen included, canyoning, hiking, zip-lining, rappelling, and a night of camping.  Needless to say, I was very excited to be spending time outside doing some things that I love.

We left rainy Seville early Saturday morning for the sunny campgrounds of Cazorla.  The weather forecast looked promising in Jaen and we were happy to be escaping the rain!  After a two hour bus ride, we were at the campgrounds ready to set up the tents and hungry for some lunch.  The boys on the trip had picked up some meat and bread for bocadillos (“sandwiches”) to keep us full until dinnertime.  The sandwiches were HUGE!

We spent the afternoon canyoning down the Guadalquivir, the river that starts in Jaen and runs through Seville.  Canyoning is something I had never tried before but it was a blast.  We were with two professionals who guided us down the river by way of waterfalls and cliff jumps.  It was a lot of fun but not something I would do without a guide.

After canyoning we were very tired and headed back to the campgrounds to have some dinner.  It was Celeste’s birthday at midnight, so we surprised her with a cake and s’mores!

We woke up early Sunday morning to meet with the same tour guides for a hike through the mountains.  It was a beautiful day and I was so happy to be spending time outside of the city in the mountains.  We hiked up to a peak where we zip-lined across a canyon.

Later on, we hiked down to another peak to rappel.  The rappel was incredible because the views were fantastic.

Fresh water from the start of the Guadalquivir River!

We spent the rest of the afternoon hiking down the mountain back to the center of Cazorla.  By the end of the day we were all exhausted and excited to sleep during the car ride.  Jaen is an enjoyable part of Andalusia with a lot of natural beauty.  I am so lucky to have visited it.